Under Different Circumstances
by dnaw12
Summary: Collection of A/U oneshots.
1. Chapter 1

**Not going to lie, I have this thing where I'm obsessed with AU's. I just love imagining the characters that I love in different scenarios or environments. And I've kind of realized that multi-chapters aren't necessarily my favorite things to write despite the fact I love reading them (although I'll definitely finish the one I'm writing right now). So I've decided to start a story where every chapter is a different AU prompt or situation that hasn't happened in the show. Hopefully none of them are too out of character, but if they are, oh well. I'm just doing this for fun. Hope you enjoy this, and let me know what you think!**

**Matt doesn't really expect his kid to become friends with the girl he got into a fight with at school, and he definitely doesn't expect to fall for said girl's mother.**

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><p>"Listen, I don't know what happened between your son and Maria. But I'd really appreciate it if you could have your son talk to us." Matt Casey really didn't want to be sitting at his son's elementary school, waiting to see if he'd get in trouble for the fight he'd gotten in, but nevertheless here he was. The look Chief gave him when he told him he'd have to duck out for a moment was far from pleased, and he understood. It was the 5th time in the past two months Matt had to come to the school because his son had gotten in some kind of trouble, and Matt was starting to get frustrated too.<p>

"Yeah, I don't know what's gotten into him. I've tried to talk to him but he's just been acting up so much lately I'm sort of at a standstill of what to do."

"Have you and your wife tried talking to him?"

Matt sighed. "Jake's mother isn't around. Look, I'll talk to him and see if I can find out what's going on. Where is this Maria girl's parents though?"

"I've called her in, she said she was on her-" the door swung open, and a woman walked in looking frazzled.

"Hi. I'm so sorry that I'm late I was at work." Matt looked her up and down. He noticed she was wearing a paramedics uniform, and wondered if they'd ever met before. She looked Matt up and down, taking in his appearance before sitting down next to him. "So Maria got in a fight?" She looked over at Matt. "With your child, I'm assuming." Matt nodded.

" Mrs. Jackson-"

"It's uh, it's Dawson actually. Gabriela Dawson." She nodded at the principal.

" Ms. Dawson. This is Matt Casey."

She shook his hand before turning to the principal. "Well, do you know who started the fight?"

"That's the problem, both of your children refuse to talk."

Gabby let out a sight and put her hand on her forehead. "Of course," she muttered under her breath. Sitting up she gave Matt a quick look before turning to the principal and putting both hands on the edge of his desk. "Look, I know this is obviously a bad situation, and I'm not a bad parent. I'm sure neither is Mr. Casey" She looked over at him and he nodded, wondering where she was going with this. "I understand that this happened at school, but if you just let me talk to my daughter, I'm sure I can get through to her and he can do the same with his son. If it's possible, maybe there could be no disciplinary action, and we can just take care of it personally." When the principal looked over at Matt he nodded in response. She spoke with authority and certainty, and hopefully it had convinced the principal because the last thing he wanted was for his son to have detention again. "Of course if you feel the need to take action I understand. This is your school of course." She sat back in her seat and Matt looked over at her, impressed. The principal looked between the two.

"You'll handle this on your own?" She nodded. "No more fights that your daughter's involved in. And you, Matt? You'll deal with your son." He nodded.

"Trust me, I will."

After taking a moment to think about it he nodded. "Your children are in the detention room down that hall, you can go get them. Next time, the school will deal with it though." They both thanked him and stood up, walking out of his office.

"Look, Mr. Casey,"

"Matt is fine." She nodded at him and they continued walking out of the office and down the hall.

"My daughter has never gotten in trouble in school, and as much of a menace as she can be I know she would never start a fight unless she was provoked. Since I just kept both of our kids from getting in trouble, I'd appreciate if you'd tell your son to not bother her again." Matts eyebrows raised in annoyance at this women. Despite the fact that it was likely Jake had caused the problem, he didn't appreciate her implying things. They stopped outside of the detention room.

"Gabriela, I really don't appreciate what you're implying."

"I'm not implying anything." She leaned against the wall and sighed. "Look, I don't mean to overstep my boundaries. But I've never been called by the school saying my daughter got in trouble until today. I've heard stories about your kid-" He opened his mouth to say something and she spoke louder to keep him from interrupting her, "and I get how hard it is to be a single parent. I just don't want to have to come bail my daughter out when I'm on shift again, alright?"

Matt sighed. As annoyed at he was he understood what she was talking about so he nodded.

"I will talk to him. But it does sound like you're implying something, and I don't appreciate it." She rolled her eyes at him and he scoffed, but before he got a chance to say anything else she opened the door.

"Maria, c'mon." A young girl who was a spitting image of her mother got up and without a chance for Matt to say anything else to Gabriela, they left.

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><p>"Do any of you know anything about a Gabriela Dawson? She's a paramedic." They were sitting in the common room after a call while Peter Mills was making lunch when Matt decided to ask about Gabriela.<p>

After having a long talk with his son about how he couldn't get in trouble in school anymore, he'd learned that although Gabriela's daughter had punched him in the nose, he'd been throwing things at her for quite some time before that. It didn't mean he appreciated her attitude any more, but she was right. He'd thought about her a little after that, she was attractive, and since she was a paramedic he figured Shay may know something about her. She obviously did, because her and her partner Allison both looked up when he mentioned her.

"Yeah, before I got placed here I was at 27 for a few months, we were partners. She's probably like, the best paramedic in Chicago. We still talk every once in a while" It didn't really surprise Matt, she seemed very tenacious. 27 was also one of the busiest houses in the city along with theirs, so she must be good to keep up.

"I rode with her for a shift," Alison spoke up. " She's pretty amazing."

"Why you asking Casey?" Shay spoke up and came to sit by him. "You got a crush on my friend?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he rolled his eyes.

"No, Jake go into a fight with her daughter at school."

"Is Jake still acting up?" Herrmann looked over at him from the couch.

"Yeah, he was provoking her daughter and she punched him in the face and started the fight."

Shay let out a light laugh. "That definitely sounds like something Dawson would do, so it doesn't surprise me that her daughter did."

"What's the deal with her, is she married or something?"

"What, you interested in this Dawson girl Lieutenant?" Herrmann grinned at Matt and walked over to the kitchen, nudging Matt when he walked by. Matt shoved him away and looked back over at Shay.

"She's not married, but it's not really in my place to say anything else."

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><p>"Dad, can we have pizza for dinner?" Matt sighed.<p>

"Kid, we can't have pizza for dinner everyday. You know that right?"

Jake groaned, and slumped down against the table where he was doing his homework. "What're you making for dinner anyways?"

"Hey, cut it out with the attitude. Do you want burgers or something?" Jake nodded, and went back to doing his homework. Matt noticed how sad he looked and walked over to the table, pulling out the chair next to him. "What's going on, are you alright?"

"We had to do some stupid thing in class about mother's day." Matt suddenly understood. "Why doesn't mom love us?" Matt closed his eyes for a moment, sighing. When he opened them, Jake was looking at him. Matt stood up, and grabbed his son from the chair, throwing him over his shoulder. "Dad! Put me down!" He screamed while laughing and Matt brought him over to the couch, tossing him down. Matt tickled him for a moment despite his sons protests that he was 'too old for tickle monster', but when he calmed down, Jake sat up and looked at his father again. "Well?"

Matt sighed, and sat down next to him. "I'm really sorry Jake, I wish I could answer that. But you know what?" Matt sat up and Jake did the same, asking "what?". "All that matters is that I love you just as much as two parents could. Maybe even more." Jake smiled.

"I love you too dad. Twice as much." The older Jake got the less attached he was to Matt, and as much as he understood that he was glad that Jake still showed some sort of affection. Matt wondered a lot whether or not he was doing things right, but since their talk about a month ago, he'd stopped acting out in school as much.

"You want some help with your homework?"

"I'm good." Jake slid off the couch. "But, can I have a friend over? Maybe this weekend." He looked hopeful.

"Who, Billy?"

"No Maria." Matt was surprised, he hadn't really thought much about the fight since Jake had been acting better lately.

"You two are friends now?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, she's really good at science and math, we sit next to each other sometimes. And she's not annoying like all the other girls."

"Hey, not all girls are annoying." Matt thought about it for a moment, he'd thought most second graders enjoyed playing with kids their own gender, but he didn't see any harm in it. "Yeah, sure. Have her mom give me a call."

"Cool. Thanks dad." With Jake in the other room doing his homework, Matt was left thinking again about Gabriela Dawson. In all honestly, he was interested in talking to her again.

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><p>When the doorbell rang that Saturday Jake was the one who insisted he got the door. Matt walked up behind him after the two kids had greeted each other. Gabriela was standing behind her daughter in jeans and a white t shirt with her hair down, and if Matt hadn't found her attractive before he definitely did now. Even dressed so casually she looked gorgeous, and he found himself distracted for a moment before he snapped out of it. "Hey." Matt looked down at Jake who was looking up at him expectantly. "You two can go play if you want." The two ran off into the house and Gabby chuckled at the two kids.<p>

"Didn't even bother saying bye to me, she's that excited." She looked up at Matt and leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over her chest. "Is there a certain time you want me to pick her up?"

Making the decision quickly, instead of telling her five like he'd originally planned, he said "you can come in, if you want?" She looked surprised, but stood up straight and nodded.

"Yeah sure." She locked her car, and walked in to the house. "Shoes on or off?"

"Either is fine." She kicked off her shoes, and put her purse at the table by the door. Following him, they walked into the kitchen. "You want some coffee, or tea?"

"Coffee is fine, thanks." She stood for a moment, looking around, before sitting down at the table.

"Cream or sugar."

"Neither." He walked over with the mug and set it down. "Thanks." He took a seat and took a sip of his own coffee. "Thanks for inviting me in. I know I wasn't exactly the nicest when we first met." He shook it off but she shook her head. "I know it sounded like I was implying you're a bad parent, but I wasn't. I just had a bad day at work and was frustrated."

"Hey it's alright. You work over at 27 right?" She nodded. "Yeah, I'm at 51. I work with Shay."

Gabriela immediately perked up when he mentioned her. "I love Shay, we were just talking the other day. Yeah, you're a lieutenant right?"

"Yeah, and I heard you're a kick ass paramedic." She smiled modestly and let out a quiet laugh. "No, really. Heard you're the best in Chicago."

"Oh god, did Shay tell you that? Tell her I'm not her PIC anymore so she can stop kissing my ass."

He laughed. "Really. From multiple sources." He could tell that all this talk about her was making her uncomfortable. "When are you on shift?"

"Ugh, I go in Monday morning. How about you?"

"The same."

"I feel bad, dropping her off on my brothers wife every three days."

"Trust me, I know how you feel. My sister watches him while I'm on shift."

"You've always wanted to be a firefighter?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Ever since I was a kid. I doubt he'll follow in my footsteps though, he'll probably want to be a scientist or something. What about you? You like being a paramedic?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean I really wanted to go to medical school, but with just me and Maria I don't have the time." He was about to ask about her husband but she must've known that a more serious question was coming and changed the subject. They ended up talking for a while, and by the time five o'clock rolled around, they were deep in conversation and the kids didn't want to stop playing. They ended up staying for dinner, and the kids went back to playing while Matt and Gabby, as she had insisted he called her, sat on the couch drinking wine.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, no wife?" When Matt didn't respond right away Gabby regretted asking. "Ignore me, the wine is getting to me, and we barely know each other. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." He took a deep breath. This wasn't something he ever talked about, in fact he couldn't remember the last time he'd had to explain to someone. "She left us, when Jake was a baby. Didn't want anything to do with him."

She smiled forlornly at him. "Well good on you, for raising him. He seems like a good kid."

"Thanks. He asks about her sometimes, and it's just rough. I don't know how to explain it to him." She let out a hum and took another sip of her wine. "Since you asked about my personal life, do you have a husband." She grinned and shoved his shoulder lightly.

"Alright, let's talk about that I guess." She put her wine glass on the table. "My husband died, 5 years ago. Brain cancer." She could see the pity in his face and started to shake her head. "Don't look at me like that, c'mon Matt. It's fine."

"It's not fine, it's sad Gabby." She looked down. "You seem to be doing well."

"Yeah, it's been good. It was hard at first, but things are great now." They looked at each other for a moment before she smiled. "God, this is our first time talking, and I'm already pouring my heart out to you." He laughed and shrugged.

"It's nice, talking to you. I don't really have time to talk to other adults, between work and Jake."

"Trust me, I know exactly how you feel." She looked over at the clock on the cable box and groaned. "I've got to be getting home." She stood up and he followed, saying he'd go get the kids while she grabbed her things. Walking over to the door she put on her shoes, smiling to herself. It was nice to talk to another adult outside of work, and Matt was a great guy. He had her laughing the whole time, and was so generous to invite her and Maria over. At that thought Maria and Jake came through the door, Matt following behind them.

"Hey hun. You ready to go home?" She handed her daughter her shoes and she sat down to put them on and tie them up.

"No. We were just planning a volcano we were going to make." Gabbys eyebrows raised, and amused she looked over at Matt.

"Were you really?" Her daughter stood up and she handed her her sweatshirt. "Well, that's definitely not happening at our house. Did you help Jake clean up?"

"Yeah, she did ." Jake spoke up and went to stand by his dad. "Do you think maybe we could go to the park together next weekend." Matt and Gabby exchanged looks before he spoke up again. "You and dad can hang out like you did today."

"I don't see why that's a problem." Gabby smiled at Jake and then at Matt before putting her hand on Marias shoulder and opening the door. "Thank you for having us over."

"Yeah, anytime." They stepped out and Matt watched Gabby get in the car, smiling thinking about talking with her again.

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><p>They'd made it sort of a habit, seeing each other every weekend since then. This week, they were meeting up at the park. Matt was sitting on a bench, watching Jake swing on the monkey bars, waiting for Gabby to show. He was anxious, because since last weekend he'd been trying to think of a way to ask her out. He hadn't dated anyone in a while. He didn't want to get involved in something serious and have Jake get attached to someone who might leave. But he felt differently about Gabby. She made him ridiculously happy, and he looked forward to seeing her. She understood the position he was in because she herself had a daughter, but that also made him nervous. Because if she refused then he could completely understand why. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone sit down next to him. He looked over to see Gabby sitting down next to him, two coffees in hand. He smiled at her and accepted one, noticing how forced the smile on her face look.<p>

"Are you okay?" He turned to face her more.

She looked at him for a moment before slouching back against the bench. "We lost a kid today. She had a pulmonary edema." Her eyes started to fill with tears and she wiped them away before they could fall, taking in a deep breath. "She was Maria and Jake's age, and I'm just…" Matt pulled her closer to him, and she rested her head against his shoulder for a moment. He rubbed her back, telling her that sometimes there's nothing you could do and that it wasn't her fault. Eventually she sat back up and smiled sadly at him before taking a sip of her coffee. "How was your shift? You had that crazy house fire, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, the son was doing god knows what in the garage and it went up in flames." Her eyebrows raised. "Everyone was fine, but they've got a ton of property damage."

"Man, that sucks. That worries me, Maria's such a science nut I swear one day she's going to do something crazy."

"Trust me, I feel the same way with Jake." They sat for a moment in silence, her drinking her coffee, him trying to find the courage to bring up a date. "So, I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go out sometime?" She looked up at him, her mouth slightly open with a weird half smile on her face. Then she laughed, and he felt his stomach drop. Of course now he'd made things awkward. "Look-"

"Sorry, that was a bad response. Um, it's just that I haven't been on a date in years." She looked nervous now.

"Trust me, I haven't either. But I like you, a lot, and I feel like it would be a nice thing to do."

She licked her lips and nodded, thinking for a moment. "Yeah. I'll go on a date with you." His smile made her grin back at him just as wide, before she got fake serious. "Although, I am a single mother. So you should know what you're getting into."

He laughed before nodding. "Trust me, I have a good idea."


	2. Chapter 2

**Gabby didn't expect to fall in love while stuck in witness protection, but she did.**

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><p>I knew that I shouldn't have let myself get attached to Matt, but I'd been so lonely. In fact it was something I told myself repeatedly with anyone I started talking to, 'do not get attached Gabby'. Somehow I'd managed with everyone other than him. I remained friendly with the people I worked with, but to say we were friends would be lying. At first I was mad, furious actually, that I'd had to leave my life behind me. I missed my job, and I missed my family, and I missed having friends. Soon enough though, that had worn off and I'd just been sad. Even still, as happy as I was my reasonable side was saying 'damn it Gabby, you shouldn't have done that.' Of course I knew that still referring to myself as Gabby was only making it harder, but I didn't want to let go of who I was completely despite my happiness.<p>

I'd run into Matt on my 5th day in Chicago. Literally, run into him, spilling my coffee down the front of his shirt. It was some stupid cliche movie moment, but it definitely didn't feel like that. The coffee burned as it went down my arm and I cursed in shock, soliciting some looks from the people around me. I looked up, realizing that I'd also burned the person I'd crashed into, and started profusely apologizing, running to grab some napkins. I handed some to him while wiping the coffee off of my own clothes.

"I'm so sorry, this place is a weird set up compared to my old coffee shop, and I thought I knew where I was going." He shook his head while looking down at his shirt. I cringed, he looked annoyed.

He looked up at me, and his expression softened, hopefully because he could tell I was genuinely sorry. "It's fine" he waved it off and went to throw out the napkins, me following him.

"Do you want me to buy you a drink or something?" I offered. He shook his head.

"No, I'm good. Thank you though." I nodded, and he walked away. When I got back to the table where the U.S. Marshall Karen who was watching after me was sitting, she laughed. She was a huge smart ass and checked up on me a lot. During the beginning of my time in Chicago, I'd been incredibly angry at her, but she'd been persistent in helping me settle. Despite that incident, I somehow got a job at the coffee shop, which was likely Karen's doing, and started to see Matt more often. He came in before work every day. After teasing me about the fact that I was working at a coffee shop after spilling coffee all over him, we somehow became friends. That lead to us sleeping together, which led to us starting to date.

I'd really never really expected to start seeing anyone. My hopes were that somehow the gang that I'd snitched on would somehow cease to exist, letting me go back to my old life. But that didn't happen, and I was stuck being Alexandria Smith. Every once in a while I'd look in the mirror at my now much shorter light brown bordering blonde hair, and miss the old me. I'd lost a lot of weight, and the bags under my eyes were even more noticeable from lack of sleep. Since I'd moved I started to suffer from anxiety and occasionally had panic attacks. Karen told me it was from the abrupt change and everything that had happened in New York. But things had gotten better, and I wasn't sure if I'd be dealing with everything if it weren't for Matt. The longer I was with him though, the more he told me about himself, the guiltier I felt because I couldn't tell him anything.

The first time I really started feeling bad was when I met his best friend. He'd texted me telling me to meet him at a cafe during my break. I'd obliged, and when I walked up to the outdoor seating and spotted him, I saw another man sitting with him. My nerves set in, and I began to run through my head all of the vague lies I'd made up about 'my life'. I was about to just ditch and tell him it was too busy at the coffee shop for me to leave, but he'd spotted me and waved me over. I made my way through the tables to where he and his friend were sitting. When I got there Matt stood up to greet me, I leaned over giving him a kiss, before sitting down next to him.

"Alex, this is Kelly Severide."

"Hi." I nodded at Kelly politely, before turning to smile at Matt and slipping my hand in his. All in all it went well, but I could tell Kelly had been asking Matt questions about me that I hadn't given Matt answers to. But Matt and I hadn't been together for too long, so he hadn't pushed me to answer started asking more questions towards the fall, when we'd been together for over a year. At this point we spent most of our time off work together, and I rarely went to my apartment. Occasionally he'd ask me about my family, and I'd give vague answers. I could tell he was frustrated.

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><p>I was at his house, scrambling some eggs when I felt arms creep around my waist. After jumping slightly I realized it was Matt and let out a quiet huff before smiling.<p>

"Hey." I felt his cool lips press against my neck, and smiled, leaning back into his touch. Letting myself relax into his arms I asked "how was your shift?"

"Good." He pressed an open mouth kiss to my neck and I sighed in content, before turning around.

"Don't start, I have to leave for work soon." He pressed his lips against mine and I kissed him back, pulling away after he deepened the kiss. He groaned. "Seriously, Matt."

"Alright, alright." I wrapped my arms around his waist. "What time are you working until?"

"Six I think. Do you want some eggs? I was just about to make some before I was so rudely interrupted." He rolled his eyes at me but nodded. I went back to whisking the eggs before putting them on the heated pan. "Hey, make some toast, will you?" He started busying himself around the kitchen.

"You know it's incredibly inconvenient that you have to leave for work right when I get home."

"Oh what, because there's not enough time for us to have sex?" I joked, turning around to see him glaring at me playfully. "I'll be home soon enough, besides I have tomorrow off. We can lie around and be lazy all day."

"I can't wait. You know we had 3 fires on shift that started because of electric systems malfunctioning?"

"Damn. Other than that was everything good?" I grabbed two plates and served the eggs on to them, passing one to Matt.

"Yeah, one car accident but everyone was alright." We went and sat down at the bar, starting to eat. He finished before me, and when he was done just looked at me for a moment. "Alex, I know this is one of the last things a guy should say to his girlfriend, but you look exhausted."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Aw, thanks Matt."

"Seriously, babe. Have you been sleeping alright?" I let out a sigh and put my fork down, turning to face him. I was trying to make myself be more honest with Matt, at least with the things that I could be honest about.

"Honestly, I've been having a lot of nightmares lately." I licked my lips and he looked at me worriedly. "It's fine though, it's just harder when you're not around." He put his hand on my thigh, rubbing his thumb against the inside of my leg. I leaned forward and kissed him quickly before getting up to put on my shoes. "You shouldn't worry so much, you know?"

"Of course I'm going to worry about you, Alex." I glanced up at him and smiled before looking back down to tie up my boots. As much as I loved being with him, it made me sad that he couldn't call me Gabby. What he said next only made me sadder. "You know, we're going to have Thanksgiving dinner at the house. You should come and meet everyone." I bit my lip and took a deep breath before responding, moving on to lace up my other shoe.

"Yeah, maybe. Hopefully I won't be working." I finished and stood up, walking over to the living room to grab my apron and backpack.

"My sister also wants to meet you. She invited us to dinner at her house. She uh-" I walked back into the room "she invited your family too, if they'd like to come. I don't know if maybe they had plans to come visit or something." The mention of my family made my chest ache.

I couldn't bring myself to look up at Matt when I responded. "Yeah, that's nice. But, I don't think they'll be able to make it." Matt let out an annoyed huff and I looked up at him, knowing he was frustrated with my response.

"Am I ever going to learn anything about you? About where you're from or your family?" I sighed and shoved my hands into my pockets. "How are we going to do this? If you won't even talk to me."

My mouth opened in shock, and I had a moment of panic where I was worried that I'd lose the one person that was keeping me sane through all of this. "Matt, I've told you-"

"Yeah, yeah. That you're from Colorado, and your family's not interesting. Alex, I don't care okay? I want you to talk to me. I told you about my parents, about all of my friends. You're so distant sometimes, and I don't know if I can do this if it stays this way."

I stood there open mouthed for a moment, and finally he shook his head and turned around to leave the room. Worried, I made a decision at that moment that probably wasn't the smartest. "Look, I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?" He turned around slowly, arms crossed over his chest. I must've sounded desperate based on the look on his face. "I just," I brought my hands up to my face and took in a deep breath .I could feel him walking towards me and when I felt his arm on my shoulder I lowered my hands and looked him in the eye. "I haven't been completely open, and there are reasons, okay? But I'll explain, I promise. When I get home from work, I'll explain." He stared at me momentarily before nodding, and I could see the hurt in his eyes. Maybe I was being an idiot by telling him the truth but I didn't want him to worry about me not being honest. "I love you." I said, waiting for a response.

"I love you too." I smiled at him before kissing him quickly, and heading out the door.

Once I'd gotten outside was when the panic really started to set in. This was so stupid of me. If Karen found out that I told Matt, it was likely she'd move me. I was lucky that they'd allowed me to come to a city in the first place instead of sticking me in the middle of nowhere. Or Matt wouldn't be able to keep a secret, and I'd end up in even more trouble. Or Matt couldn't forgive me for lying to him, and ended things. The thought of that made me nauseous.I spent the rest of the day at work thinking through these three scenarios, and stressing myself out. I just wanted to leave, and get it over with. Telling Matt the truth seemed to be the only thing that would help this anxiety. But when my shift was over, I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to go jeopardize everything.

When I got to Matt's house I found him sitting on the couch, beer in hand. I dropped my bag on the floor and walked over and sat next to him, resting one hand on his leg and putting my chin on his shoulder. I could tell he was upset and trying to ignore me, so I nuzzled my face into his neck, giving him a kiss before mumbling a quiet 'hey'.

"Hey." After another minute of his sitting in silence, I kissed his neck again and wrapped my arm around his waist, hoping to solicit some sort of reaction. When I got none I sighed, and lifted myself up and straddled his lap. He sighed and turned off the tv, leaning around me to put his beer down. He put his hands on my waist and I smiled.

"Are you going to talk to me?"

"Are you going to tell me the truth?" I sighed.

"Yeah." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and nodded, trying to convince myself this was the right thing to do. "Yeah. But, you need to promise me two things. No matter how this turns out, everything that I'm about to tell you can not be told to anyone, ever." He looked amused but his face became serious again when he realized I wasn't joking. "I know this sounds dumb now, but I'm being so serious Matt."

"Alright. What's the second thing?"

"Please just let me explain everything first. You might get upset with me, and want to interrupt, but just let me finish explaining." He nodded, and I took a deep breath. "Alright, well to sum it up my name isn't Alex. My name is Gabriela Dawson, my friends and family call me Gabby, and I was born in New York. I'm here because I'm in witness protection, because while living in New York, I had gang affiliations due to my boyfriend. He was uh- he was abusive, and deeply involved in one of the biggest gangs on the east coast." I let out a quiet laugh. "God, you probably think I'm lying, or I'm crazy or something. But I uh, I eventually ended up talking to the cops. I told them a lot of information about this gang, and I couldn't stay. So, a little over a year and a half ago I was put in witness protection. I didn't want to go, but after being almost beaten to death by a member, I had to. I had to leave my family and friends behind, since they weren't in any real danger, and come out here." I took in a shaky breath. I couldn't read any reaction from him, and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "Look, Matt, I need you to know that none of this was fake, okay. You're the only thing here keeping me sane, keeping me happy. And I hated lying to you, but I couldn't tell you the truth. Even now, if they knew I told you the truth they might move me somewhere else. But I couldn't keep lying to you. I uh, I love you so much. I understand if you don't want to be with me, but please try to understand." The tears had been flowing out of my eyes for a while now, and I sat there waiting for a reaction of any kind from him.

I wasn't sure how long we sat there, but I could tell he was thinking through everything I'd just told him so I gave him time. When he finally opened his mouth, I was prepared for the worst. "So should I call you Alex, or Gabby?" I sighed in relief and laughed slightly, wiping the tears off of my face.

"Gabby, but only when we're alone. If that's okay with you." He nodded, and I brought both of my hands up to his face and kissed him deeply. "We have to be really careful. This is really serious, if Karen finds out..." I shook my head.

"Yeah, no one but us." I nodded and smiled down at him. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He stood up, bringing me with him. I wrapped myself tighter around him. "You're going to tell me all about your family and friends over dinner."

"Okay, that I can deal with."

* * *

><p>I woke up feeling groggy, bothered by the lack of heat next to me where Matt usually was. I heard the fan running in the bathroom and turned over, lying on my back. It registered in my mind that it was Thanksgiving, and my mood got slightly worse. I didn't like the holidays all that much anymore. Last Christmas had been miserable for me. Matt and I weren't very serious yet and he spent the holiday with his sister. I mostly just layed around my apartment missing my family. Even now all I could think about was my brother Antonio, and how his kids would probably be playing with some presents my parents had gotten them. I thought about helping my mom in the kitchen, and how she and my father would both tear up when they talked about everything they were thankful for. I missed my family so much, and on the holidays the heartache seemed to be even worse. Sighing, I got up, grabbing one of Matt's t shirts from his dresser and pulling it over my head. I walked into the bathroom, and found him standing with a towel wrapped around his waist, shaving. I hopped up onto the side of the sink that was clear, and watched him. He gave me a slight smile before he went back to shaving, and we sat in comfortable silence. When he finished shaving, he came over and stood between my legs, wrapping his hands around my waist and pulling me closer.<p>

"Good morning."

I smiled and brought my hand up to his face, rubbing his smooth cheek. "Good morning. Happy Thanksgiving."

He leaned in and kissed me before pulling back. "You doing okay?" I nodded and he sighed. "There's no way you could even call them, or send them a card."

"No. No contact whatsoever." I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder. He rubbed his hands along my back and I closed my eyes. "Can you please stay home today?" I said half hopeful and half joking, pressing my lips against his shoulder. He laughed at me and shook his head.

"As much as I want to, I can't. You'll be stopping by the firehouse though for dinner, so." I pulled back.

"Yeah. That'll be, interesting."

"Don't be nervous. They're all excited to meet you Gabby."

"Yes, but to them I'm Alex."

"Of course. I'm being careful." He left the room to go get changed. I'd taken off work for two days, so I went downstairs not bothering to get dressed and made coffee. I handed him the to go cup and he leaned down and kissed me. "I'll let you know when to come around alright." I nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I spent the rest of the day cleaning and watching tv to pass the time, and around 3 I got a text from Matt to come around 5. So I got up and did my hair and makeup, before putting on black pants and a burgundy long sleeved shirt. I spent the rest of the time worrying. In all honesty I hadn't made friends since I'd moved to Chicago. I was friendly with the people I worked with at the coffee shop, but I didn't really venture out enough (partly due to anxiety and partly just because I didn't want to) to make friends. So making my way up the long driveway to firehouse 51 had my stomach in knots. Immediately once I'd made it into the garage Kelly saw me, and jumped out of his seat at a table with four other guys. "Hey, Alex! I'm glad you made it."

"Hey Kelly. Yeah, me too."

"Guys this is Alex, Matt's girlfriend." They all waved at me and I waved back, before Kelly led me into the common room. Matt was sitting on the couch and when he noticed me smiled widely before getting up and walking over.

"Hey, babe." He wrapped his arms around me and I did the same, taking in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I never used to get anxious, but after everything that had happened sometimes new situations freaked me out. When he pulled back he looked at me worriedly. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." I smiled before pulling back, noticing the attention we'd drawn.

"You must be Alex!" A blonde girl who was sitting at the table got up and came over, pulling me into a hug. Though I was taken aback at first I hugged her back, noticing Matt's amused expression. "I'm Shay. Matt's told us a lot about you."

"Yeah, he only talks about you all the time. Sounds like a kid with a crush." A man sitting with his nose in a newspaper called out from the table.

"That's Herrmann, he's grumpy and old, don't worry about him." Amused at everyone I let myself be pulled over by Shay to sit down. She introduced me to everyone else, and the group involved me in their conversations. Every once in a while I'd catch Matt looking at me and grin at him. We all ate, and luckily they didn't get any calls in that time. I was getting ready to leave, grabbing my coat from where it was thrown over the table. Matt walked over to me.

"You took the bus here, right?" I nodded. "I'll go grab my keys, take the truck home alright."

I started shaking my head. "It's fine-"

"No, I'm grabbing my keys for you." I smiled at him and wrapped my hand around his neck, kissing him a few times. He smiled and left for his office. Everyone was preoccupied with their own things, but Shay had seen and came up to me.

"He's been really happy since he met you ya know. Had this girlfriend before, Hallie, I think she broke his heart. You got him out of that."

"Well, he's helped me through a lot too."

Shay nodded. "Hey, I really enjoyed talking to you. We should hang out some time or something." My eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah, that sounds great. You can get my number from Matt, just text me."

"Alright." She smiled at me and quickly hugged me. "It was nice meeting you." She walked over to the table and I left with Matt, saying goodbye to everyone before walking out to his car with him.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yeah. Thank you, I'm really glad I came." He brought his hands up to my face, rubbing my cheeks before leaning in to kiss me. I wrapped my hands around his wrists, running my thumbs against the back of his hands.

"I'm glad you came too. Round two is tomorrow though, you'll get to meet my sister."

"Yeah well honestly that almost seems less intimidating." We stood there in silence for a moment before I spoke up again. "Well, I'm going to head over to your house. Want me to pick you up in the morning?"

He shook his head. "Nah I'll catch a ride, you should sleep in. I love you."

"Love you too. See you tomorrow." I drove home and got ready for bed. Lying down I thought about the day. As much as I missed my family, the ache wasn't as bad as before. Because it seemed like I had another possible family who cared about me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I'm kind of upset about the fall finale. But I'm letting myself wait for things to play out before freaking out. Really just because I have more important things to be stressed about. Anyways here is a short oneshot I wrote a long time ago. Thank you all for reading and for the reviews, they make me so so happy you have no idea :) Hope you enjoy this even though it's not a super happy one :P**

**After trying to have a child for a while, Matt and Gabby get some sad news.**

* * *

><p>The crying that Gabby thought could be hidden with the shower running was breaking Matt's heart. She'd gone upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom when they got home an hour ago. Knocking at the door again, he sighed and spoke up.<p>

"Gabby, babe, please come out and talk to me." Still no response came from the bathroom.

They'd been trying to get pregnant for a while now, for almost a year actually. They'd been married for almost two years, and decided that having a family was in their plans, and they might as well start soon.

"You do want kids right?" He'd asked her one night as they lay on the couch after shift. Him stroking her hair, her head on his shoulder and arm wrapped around him. She yawned, sitting up straighter, and he turned to face her.

"Yeah of course. I want the whole nine yards with you Matt, you know that." She smiled at him and reached for his hand. He stroked his thumb across her hand, bringing his other hand to her face and pulling her closer. He kissed her slowly a few times, and she brought her other hand up and to his face. They looked at each other with their faces only centimeters apart, and her face broke into a huge smile.

"What?"

"Nothing, just picturing you with our kids. All of that family stuff like decorating the tree at Christmas. You can build them a tree house or something. We could get a dog." She poked his stomach and he shook his head at her. Her face got more serious then. "You'll be the best father Matt, you know?" His heart had swelled with joy hearing those words, and next thing she knew he'd lifted her into his arms and was carrying her towards their bedroom. "What are you doing?" She asked with mock exasperation. He grinned at her.

"Those babies won't just make themselves." She threw her head back and laughed.

They'd been trying for a while, was the point, and when Gabby still wasn't pregnant Matt had suggested they see a doctor. She wasn't too keen about the idea, and although he didn't understand at first now he did. He found her nervous rambling on the way to the hospital adorable, until it's started to get serious.

"Matt, what if something's wrong? What if we can't have a baby?" He looked over at her quickly and saw the worry on her face.

Bringing his hand over to rest on her thigh, he sighed. "Then we'll figure it out. Let's just try to be positive, alright?" When he looked over again she was smiling at him appreciatively, and took his hand in both of hers.

She didn't cry when the doctor told her she was infertile, but when he looked at her he saw the broken look in her eyes. It broke his heart to watch that, and she'd hid her face in her hands and stayed curled up in her seat. The doctor had explained more to him, but he wasn't paying much attention, more focused on rubbing Gabbys back and trying to comfort her. Even once the appointment was over it took him a few minutes to coax her to get up. Biting her lip so hard he thought she'd draw blood, she wouldn't let him touch her on the walk to the car. She'd said nothing on the ride home, just staring blankly out of the window, and had immediately gone into the shower when they got home. He'd busied himself, washing the dishes they'd used earlier and cleaning the living room. Really just doing anything to distract himself, and give Gabby a moment alone before going to check on her. And to think himself.

Matt knew he wanted kids. Even when he was younger, he promised himself that he'd be a good father. It remained something that was important to him, it was the reason it never would've worked out with Hallie. When Gabby had come around and them being together was a sure thing, it was something he looked forward to. A son or daughter with her eyes and hair but his nose, someone who he'd get to watch grow and love unconditionally. The fact that she wanted it too made it all the more exciting. But now that he was forced to think about it, it wasn't necessary. He'd be happy waking up everyday next to Gabby, listening to her mumble when he tried to wake her up. Watching her yell at the TV, seeing her do her job like the badass she was. And they could still have a family, they could give another child a family. They could foster a child, or adopt. Sure they wouldn't have the same face, but he'd love them just as much. Despite the disappointment weighing him down, he knew that things would work out. He'd convinced himself that this wasn't a completely terrible thing, but then again he wasn't the one who was infertile and he wasn't sure Gabby would be able to feel the same way so quickly.

Twenty five minutes in he figured he should check on her, so he went upstairs and knocked on the bathroom door. And here he was almost 40 minutes later and she still wasn't out. He kept knocking on the door every few minutes. Eventually he got frustrated, and Matt just picked the lock on the bathroom door and let himself in.

Gabby's gross sobbing had subdued to quiet sniffles by the time she heard the door open. She covered my mouth and bit her lip in an attempt to be quiet.

"Gabby?" Matt called out.

He opened the shower curtain and saw her standing there, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes red and puffy from crying, her lip still trembling slightly. He went to turn off the shower that had long ago turned cold. He proceeded to get a towel, and wrap it around her. He helped her out of the tub, saying mumbling sweet nothings in hopes of comforting her. She wrapped the towel more tightly around herself, and sat down on the cold bathroom floor. He sat down across from her, putting his hands on her knees as she sat there shivering. She could feel him watching her, but she didn't look up. After ten minutes of sitting there in silence she finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry." It was barely a whisper, and her eyes flicked up quickly to look at him. He sighed.

"It's not your fault Gabby."

"No it is," she shook her head. "We can't have kids Matt. You want kids so bad, you want a family, and I can't give that to you." She sounded so sure that it was her fault. He moved closer and brought his hands to her face, turning it up so she'd look him in the eyes. He stroked her cheeks, giving her a look of what was hopefully reassurance.

"It's not your fault, okay. I know you're upset, and that's what seems to make sense, but telling yourself that is unfair. Baby, we can still have a family."

"Matt-"

"No, Gabby. I love you, alright. As much as I want kids, we don't need them. Just the thought of being with you for the rest of my life makes me happy, whether kids are in the picture or not. We can figure something else out later if you want, whatever you want." He smiled slightly at her. She closed her eyes and turned her head in his hands, kissing his palm. She leaned forward then, kissing him.

"I love you." He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her into his lap. And they both sat around for a while longer, just letting themselves be comforted by one another.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! I will hopefully update Trials and Tribulations this weekend (if anyone was interested). Anyways hope you like this and let me know what you think!**

**Matt becomes fond of his new neighbor.**

* * *

><p>I had just gotten home from my shift and was now sitting alone in my empty house. Things were kind of a mess, dust covering a majority of things, a musty smell throughout the living room. Since Hallie and I had split I'd sort of let myself go. I hadn't really admitted it to myself until yesterday when I was still eating the same week old pizza, and had run out of clean clothes to wear.<p>

It was nice outside, a cool spring day. I'd gotten a lot of sleep on shift, not many people had gotten into too much trouble it seemed, which was always good news. I sighed, trying to think of things to do. Sitting at home and basking in my misery didn't seem appealing today. So I got up and found a pair of gym shorts in the pile of clothes sitting on my floor. I told myself I'd get to doing my laundry later, and tied up my running shoes, heading out the door to go for a jog.

Despite the physical exertion exhibited in my job, I hadn't run in a while, and after a few times around my neighborhood my muscles started to burn. I was standing on my lawn stretching, when I noticed it. A moving van at the house across the street from mine. Wondering how I'd missed it before, I decided to wait outside, with the risk of looking creepy, to see who was moving in. I stood outside stretching, while thinking. I was pretty sure it was only a one or two bedroom, so I doubted it was a family with kids. Suddenly I heard a door close, and looking back up saw a woman coming out of the front door. She look frustrated, and it made me smile slightly watching her yell at the movers. She let out a huff and pushed her hair back, and all of a sudden we were making eye contact. My eyes widened, and I sort of panicked as she smiled and started to make her way over to me. Just stay calm Matt. She'd crossed the street so I started walking towards her and we stopped at the sidewalk. She was pretty, very pretty, and smiled so wide that it almost put me in a better mood.

"Hi, I'm Gabriela, your new neighbor. You can call me Gabby though." She'd stuck out her hand so I shook it, and smiled back at her.

"Hey Gabby. I'm Matt." She nodded, and looked me up and down, almost as if she was examining me. Suddenly I felt somewhat self conscious, and I wasn't sure why. "So, where'd you move from?"

"California."

"Wow, pretty big change."

She shrugged. "I got a new job, and I came back to be closer to my family. So what's this neighborhood like. Anything or anyone I should look out for?"

I shook my head. "Not that I can think of. Although in that green house definitely isn't the first person I'd go to if you need to borrow sugar. She's kind of senile." Gabby scrunched up her nose and let out a nice laugh.

"Thanks for the tip, neighbor." She smiled up at me, looking somewhat intrigued. I tried to think of something else to say, but before I could she spoke up again. "Well, I better get back to make sure the movers don't break or steal anything."

"Yeah. It was nice to meet you."

"You too." She turned to walk away, and I surprisingly found myself speaking up.

"You know, if you want to have a beer and talk or something, just come on over later this week."

"I might just take you up on that offer." She smiled at me again, god her smile was gorgeous, and turned to walk away. I waited outside until she got back in the house, before going back in. Getting a cup of water and drinking it all at once, I thought about her and wondered what she was like. She seemed nice enough, and I was sure she'd make lots of friends but I decided to take it upon myself to be friendly. Hopefully she would take me up on my offer for a beer and come over sometime, and hopefully it wasn't when I was on shift. I realized I should probably go do some laundry and clean a little. Because if she did show up, this mess would be incredibly embarrassing.

* * *

><p>The next time I saw her was when I was taking out the trash later that week. She was getting out of her car. I noticed she was wearing scrubs, and wondered if she was a doctor or a nurse. My mind quickly went to Hallie but I brushed it off when she looked over and saw me, waving slightly. She looked tired and weary, and I could tell she was upset. The confidence she'd carried herself with when I'd first met her wasn't there now, and I frowned slightly.<p>

"Hey, how are you?" I called out, crossing the street and making my way over to her car where she was still standing. I noticed the card on her pocket. "I didn't realize you were a doctor."

"Hey, neighbor. Yeah I am, over at Lakeshore." She went silent for a moment and we just stood there. I was about to speak up again and ask her what was on her mind when she asked "How are you?"

I shrugged. "Can't complain." She nodded slowly, not really looking me in the eye. "Are you alright?" I asked, and she looked up quickly, just to look back down at her shoes.

"Yeah, it's just, some days. You know?" She glanced up at me sadly, and I nodded. "I'll see you later Matt," she turned around to make her way into her house when I found myself stopping her.

"Wait. Uh, do you maybe want to have that beer now?" She raised her eyebrows at me, and that genuine smile from earlier this week was there again. Small, but there.

"You do realize it's like, nine in the morning right?" I grinned.

"Yeah but it looks like you've had a rough day. Besides it's night somewhere." She shook her head at me, looking almost amused.

"Alright, let's go." We walked over to my house and I unlocked the door, telling her to sit on the couch while I grabbed us some beers. Thankfully I had finally cleaned everything up, and actually done some grocery shopping. Hallie had been surprised when she'd come over to check on me earlier that week and I wasn't eating leftover pizza. I got into the living room, and Gabby was slouched over on my couch, feet up on the table, staring into space. She looked over at me when I sat down next to her, smiling and taking the beer from my hand.

"You know you could've changed from your scrubs if you'd wanted. Why are you even wearing them still?"

She shrugged. "It's fine. I was kind of in a rush to get out of there today, so I just left. Besides they're comfortable." She turned to face me, sitting with her legs crossed. "So considering we've only spoken once before this, I haven't gotten a chance to ask what exactly you do?"

"I'm a firefighter, and I do some construction in my free time." She nodded slowly.

"Cool. So you know what that's like, right? Tough calls." I thought about Darden, and nodded slowly. "You just went back, right then." I must've looked confused, because she continued to explain, "you went back to a tough call. Thought about it."

"Yeah, I did actually."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Do you want to talk about why you're so upset today?" She sighed, and looked over at me quickly.

"In the OR today the woman we were operating on died. It was a simple procedure, but she was old, and her heart gave out. I had to go tell her family, and it just reminded me of…" she trailed off.

Not really sure how to respond, I just said, "That sucks." She nodded, taking another sip of her beer.

"My best friend died, a month or so ago, in a fire." She looked over at me sympathetically.

"That really sucks."

"Yeah, it does. My other best friend hates me. Oh and also my fiance left me, so there's that." I suddenly felt myself flushing, I hadn't really meant to say any of that out loud. I looked over at her and she was grinning wide, and started laughing. "I was just rambling."

"Yeah you were. It's alright, I don't mind. Why'd your fiance leave you?"

"We wanted different things."

"Well, maybe it's for the better then." I nodded slowly and really thought about it.

"Yeah, maybe it is for the better." I'd thought that a few times before then, but it was sort of hard to convince myself of that. But sitting here with Gabby, drinking a beer felt like one of the most normal things ever. Her laugh made me smile, and the animated faces she made when we talked warmed my heart. And by the time she had left two hours later, with promises of talking again soon, it seemed plausible. Maybe it was for the better.

* * *

><p>"Okay, you obviously don't cook often. Do you not know how to cut vegetables?" I was standing in Gabby's kitchen, helping her make dinner. Although I wasn't sure I was helping as much as I was making things go slower.<p>

"I don't cook often, at least not this kind of stuff." She shook her head at me and hip checked my slightly, moving me out of the way.

"You can go stir the pasta."

"I see how it is, give me the job a kid can do."

"Oh get over yourself!" I grinned over at her. "I met your ex-fiance at work today you know."

"Really?" In all honesty I hadn't thought about Hallie for a while. Gabby was a nice distraction from that mess and I'd become good friends with her.

"Yeah, I think she hates me."

"Why do you think that?" She walked over to the stove and put the chopped vegetables in the sauce.

"Just feels like it. Probably just, being competitive."

"Want me to talk to her?" The face she made had me feeling somewhat dumb for asking, but the last thing I wanted was Hallie making her uncomfortable.

"Oh god no." She grinned over at me before grabbing the pot of pasta and walking over to the sink to drain the water. "I can handle myself, besides it's just petty. Thanks for the offer though."

"Yeah no problem."

"Hey so how've things with you and your best friend been going?"

"Well we haven't exactly been 'best friends' recently, but not too bad. I think her blames me."

"Blames you for what?" Gabby stopped what she was doing and turned to me, looking concerned. I sighed and leaned back against the counter.

"Blames me for our friends death." She watched me carefully while I spoke. "Actually he's almost said that he blames me."

"Who do you blame?"

I thought it through for a moment, "I'm not really sure. At first him. Kind of myself. But..." I stopped talking, not wanting to think about it all.

"I'm sure he's only blaming you because he blames himself and doesn't know who to take it out on. Which isn't fair but hey, people deal with things in different ways. I think you'll get back to where you were before. Just give it some time." She smiled and I nodded gratefully.

We sat on her couch and ate, watching some cop show I'd never heard of. Eventually Gabby shut the TV off and stood up, grabbing my plate. I asked her if she wanted help and she told me know, so I stayed on the couch. Yawning I got up. I went and stood at Gabby's kitchen counter, watching her put away things. Her quietly singing along with the music that was playing from the radio made my heart beat faster. In fact a lot of things she did had the same affect. The simplest things she do and say were either amusing, or comforting, or kind they made me feel lighter. I was glad that Gabby had moved across the street from me. I'd felt stuck since Andy died and Hallie and I had broken up. I was trying to hold on to something that wasn't rational, and without knowing she'd pulled me out of it. We'd been getting together at each other's houses pretty often in the five months since she'd moved here, and she made me happy. Suddenly I realized she was calling my name.

"Hello? Earth to Matt." She smiled and walked over, swatting at my arm. "I think you had too much wine."

"Well it's a good thing I don't have to drive home." I got up, grabbing my sweatshirt off the chair. "Alright well I have shift tomorrow, I better get going."

"Okay." She walked me to the door and I left, trying to figure out a way to ask her out casually.

* * *

><p>"Are you not going to eat Lieutenant?" Mills asked me while everyone was getting lunch. I tore my eyes from the door that I was waiting Gabby to walk through. She'd texted me asking if I could get lunch, and I invited her to the firehouse. She insisted she'd bring me food, and I was waiting for her to show.<p>

"I'm supposed to be eating with someone. If they don't show I will." Mills nodded and soon I was surrounded by everyone as they ate their lunch. I was worried that Gabby wouldn't show and was about to get up and get a plate when she walked in, wearing her scrubs and a large parka, cheeks flushed from the cold. "Hey!" I stood up and walked towards her, everyone sitting at the table turning to look. "Did you walk here?"

She scrunched up her nose, "I did."

"Gabby-"  
>"It's fine, I needed the fresh air. Sorry it took so long though, the line at the place was really long. But trust me, you're going to love it." She handed me the bag and took off her coat, holding it in her arms.<p>

"I appreciate it but you really shouldn't of walked here." I took her coat and put it on the empty chair at the table.

"And I appreciate your concern but you worry too much." She grinned at me and I shook my head, but I couldn't stay mad at her, as worrying as it was that she'd walked here in this weather.

Realizing there were other people there, I turned to everyone who was watching us talk, giving me intrigued looks. "Guys this is Gabby." They all greeted her and she smiled and waved back at them. I turned back to her. "Let me show you around and then we can eat." She nodded and I led her down the hall with my hand at the small of her back. "Look at you, in uniform."

She snorted. "Please this is hardly a uniform. Besides, look at you Lieutenant." She smiled at me suggestively, nudging me with her elbow and I laughed and started showing her around and telling her about the place. Halfway through the tour she pulled out her sandwich and started eating it.

"Seriously? You couldn't wait to sit?" I asked in amusement.

"Matt I didn't eat breakfast, give me a break." We ended up in my office, me sitting at my desk with her on the bed, legs crossed eating her sandwich.

"How long have you worked here?"

"Six years."

"Damn. Must be like a second home by now."

I nodded. "Yeah, it is. And you were right by the way, this sandwich is great."

"We could always go eat out there if you want." She crumpled up her wrapper and threw it in to my trash. "Or at least you can."

"Nah, it's fine. How's work?" I turned my chair around and found her lying down with her legs crossed.

"Good. Boring, which is a good thing. Doesn't make it any less boring. I guess that's one thing both of our jobs have in common. When it's boring it's a good thing. Although that might actually apply to a lot of other jobs so, connection lost."

I shook my head at her musings, taking another bite of my sandwich. "You were right by the way, this sandwich is great."

"Isn't it? I'm going to have to bring you to this Dominican place sometime. You'll love that too. Trust me, I have great taste in food." She laid down, one foot propped on her knee.

"I trust you."

"You guys are one of the busiest houses in the city you know. I'm sure you know, but. Your ambo brings in a lot of people."

"Yeah, we're also probably the best house in the city, so."

"You trying to impress me, or something?"

"Did it work?"

"No." I shook my head and went back to eating, listening to her talk about the people she worked with. Hanging out with her so casually was getting a lot harder recently. I just spent the entire time worried I'd blurt out something stupid. What was keeping me from asking her out was my worry of her saying no. But honestly, I'd been waiting too long. So when she stopped talking about the one of the nurses she worked with, I figured I'd ask her out to dinner.

"So I was wondering-" I saw her eyes flicked to the door right before I heard it open.

"Hey Casey, chief wanted to talk to you." Shay opened the door, and I nodded at her in acknowledgement, hoping she'd leave. But she stood at the door, waiting. I looked back to Gabby and she smiled at me, getting up.

"It's fine. I should really get back to work anyways, considering it's a bit of a walk."

"Yeah. Let me walk you to the door."

Shay piped up. "I'll show her to the door." I cursed inwardly at Shay, but said goodbye and nodded at the two before leaving to go talk to Chief. When I got back to the common room I found everyone looking at me.

"Casey, please tell me your friend is a lesbian. Or bisexual." Shay was grinning at me deviously and I rolled her eyes at her, walking to the kitchen to get a drink.

"Piss off Shay."

"Oh gosh he likes her! Look at how embarrassed he is." A few of the guys laughed at Shay but I elected to ignore her.

"How'd you meet her?" I heard Herrmann ask from behind me and grabbing my drink I went to sit down at the table.

"She's my neighbor."

"When'd she move in?"

"Probably 8 months ago when he started to get all cheery." Severide walked by me, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

"Give me a break, we're just friends."

"Yeah, for now."

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><p>Christmas had passed, mostly uneventful. Gabby and I had spent the day after together, because she had spent Christmas day with her family. I'd stopped by at Christie's house, but we weren't exactly on good terms so I tried not to stay long. I'd just gotten home from doing some grocery shopping since takeout for the 5th night in a row I'd spent at home didn't seem very appealing. I was putting things into the fridge when I heard my phone ringing from the countertop. Walking over I saw it was Gabby and smiled, answering it and bringing it up to my ear. I didn't have a chance to say anything before I heard a shaky breath and automatically frowned, starting to worry. "Gabby, what's wrong?"<p>

I heard her take a few more breaths before answering "hey Matt."

Not sure what sort of situation she was in I was starting to panic, and grabbed my keys, prepared to go get her if she needed. "What's going on?"

"I um-" I heard her let out a quiet sob, "I'm just having a bad day at work." Her voice was choked up with tears, and I rubbed a hand over my face, the panic going away but feeling disheartened listening to her so upset.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Can I uh, come over when I get home from work though?"

"Yeah, of course whatever you need" I said reassuringly. "If you want I'll get some alcohol ready, if that'll make you feel better."

She let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah. That'd be great actually."

"Alright. I'll have food ready too."

"Okay, thanks Matt." She sniffled and let out a huff before speaking up again. "I've gotta go. But we'll talk later. Thank you." She hung up quickly. I ran my hand over my face, taking a deep breath. Hopefully she'd be willing to talk and wouldn't just attempt to drown her sorrows in vodka. Although sometimes it proved somewhat effective.

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><p>I woke up with a horrible headache. Immediately I groaned, aggravated at the light peeking in through the blinds. Aggravated at myself for last night. Not that it wasn't great, at least the parts that I remembered. But because this wasn't how I'd wanted it to happen. Electing to not think about it just then, I closed my eyes again, not wanting to get out of bed. I'd almost drifted back to sleep when I heard footsteps coming down the hall, and pulled myself upright, trying to prepare for the conversation about to happen. Gabby walked in, handing me a cup of coffee. I took in her appearance, her hair was disheveled and her legs were bare. All she was wearing was her plain black bra and underwear. Which I clearly remembered taking off last night. As much as I wanted to reach out and pull her closer, feel her skin against mine again, I decided against it. She sat on the edge of the bed, facing me but still putting distance between us.<p>

"So." I sat up even more, leaning forward somewhat and watching her sip her coffee. "I see you've found my coffee maker."

"Matt I've been to your house before." I wasn't really sure what to say so I just nodded, waiting for her to say something else. After a moment she sighed. "Stop making this weird. I'm not some one night stand. At least not in the original sense of the term." She took another sip of her coffee before getting up and putting the mug on my dresser. "Sadly I'll still have to do the whole walk of shame thing. Only across the street but still." She crawled back on the bed, lying down on her stomach, legs swinging in the air and her head propped up on her hands. It was funny how serious she could be, and here she was kicking her legs around in the air like a child. We sat around for a moment before I finally decided to say something.

"I didn't want to do it like this." She made an confused expression at me, waving her hand signaling me to elaborate. "I wanted to take you on a date, not just get right in bed with you."

"Matt how high maintenance do you think I am?" She joked, pushing herself up and sitting down. She started fiddling with her hands and looked down. "You don't feel like this was a mistake though?"

I could tell she was worried and it bothered me, so I brought my hand to her chin, tilting her face up so she'd look me in the eye. "No it wasn't a mistake." She nodded before getting a devilish smile on her face. She leaned forward, trailing her hand across my chest, and kissed me. I sat up straighter and kissed her back, wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her closer. I tried to deepen the kiss when she pulled away. I gave her an annoyed look and she just grinned back at me in amusement.

"Does this mean you'll make me breakfast?" I could tell she was just trying to push my buttons, and I dragged her over so she was sitting on my lap, smiling at the squeal of protest she let out.

"Yes, Gabby. I will make you breakfast."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! It makes me very happy to know that people actually enjoy the things I write just as I enjoy others fanfic. I sort of ran dry of ideas that I actually wanted to write, but I've thought of a few, so hopefully I'll post a few more chapters while I'm not in school and have more time to write. Let me know what you think, and sorry that I like high school AU's so much if you don't. I may come back to this later and add more, I'm not sure. This may be slightly OOC.**

**Punk!Gabby sits next to Matt in English. She is quite intimidating.**

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><p>Gabriela Dawson had always been intimidating. I remember in second grade she slapped some kid in the face because he kept squirting juice at her. And in sixth grade, when she was running around in converse and baggy jeans and hoodies, she yelled at Matt O'Brien for picking on some kid. Which was pretty brave considering he was the biggest and most popular kid in our class, and she was some short girl with hearts drawn all over her shoes. She'd never been mean, per say, but you wouldn't want to mess with her. Even before she completely took a 180 in the image department. Not having seen her since seventh grade, I didn't recognize her when she came and sat down next to me in 4th period english. Before I realized it was her, I looked her up and down. She was wearing those black platform shoes that definitely hadn't been popular for a while, with black high waisted jeans. She had on some purple t-shirt she'd cut short and cut the sleeves off of. Her hair was parted to the left, and the right side of her head was shaved. This made it easy to see the small gauges and multiple piercing on her ear. Not to mention the eyebrow piercing, nose piercing, and septum piercing. Maybe it was incredibly judgemental of me, but sitting next to her made me nervous. Her staring blankly into space was the look of a person you didn't want to mess with.<p>

When our teacher walked in and saw her, he did stopped dramatically and did a double take. "Is that the one and only Gabriela Dawson?" When I realized who it was I looked at her closely once again. The nose, her lips. It was definitely the same Gabriela from sixth grade, just grown up. She rolled her eyes at Mr. Boden. "We better not be having any problems this year Ms. Dawson."

Giving him a less that genuine grin, she slouched back in her seat. "Of course not Wallace." My eyebrows raised. Her voice practically dripped with sarcasm, and I was sure the rest of the class was watching, wondering how dare she spoke to a teacher like that. He merely smiled back, before walking to his desk, shooting a joking stern look over his shoulder at her.

Mr. Boden spoke for about 25 minutes around class protocol and expectations. I tried hard to pay attention. This stuff mattered to me, if I didn't keep my grades up I couldn't stay on the football team. But Gabriela Dawson was distracting me. She'd eaten about 4 packs of smarties already. Opening them, setting them out on her desk. I noticed she'd eat the white smarties last. Why I noticed this, I wasn't sure. I honestly wasn't even sure why I was paying such close attention to her. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the teacher say my name. Snapping back to reality, I looked around. Thankfully, he hadn't noticed me zoning out. But I had no idea what we were doing. I felt someone staring at me, and looked over at Gabriela. She had a smirk on her face, and I felt uncomfortable under her stare.

She brought her legs up onto her desk, keeping eye contact with me while reaching into her bag, and pulling out two packs of smarties. She tossed one to me before proceeding to open her own. "Did you not hear anything he just said."

"No, actually."

She grinned at me. "Well, we're supposed to do the whole introduction with your neighbor thing. So, I'm Gabriela." She brought her hand up to her chest, and brought it back down, putting smarties onto her tongue. It took me a second to realize she was waiting for me to respond.

"Oh. I'm Matt Casey." She nodded, continuing to eat her smarties and look me up and down. Figuring if she would analyze me, I did the same. I realized she had a few small tattoos, one on her upper forearm, one behind her ear, one on her shoulder. When I finally looked bad up to her face she was looking me in the eyes.

"You done?" I felt myself getting hot in the face. She really was very pretty, but her intimidating stare was making me nervous. I nodded. "So, you had Wallace here as a teacher before?" she said, nodding her head over at Mr. Boden.

"No, I have t actually. Why do you call him Wallace?"

"I've had him every year since ninth. Ninth and tenth grade I called him Wally. We had, you know, a talk. About respecting teachers and such. So now I call him Wallace."

I must've looked kinda dumb, sitting there slightly open mouthed, wondering how that was any more respectful. But thankfully our discussion time was cut short when Mr. Boden decided to tell our class what we were going to need. When the bell rang I waited, watching her grab her worn out bag off the floor and quickly walk out of the classroom. When I got out in the hall I watched her meet up with a blonde girl wearing all black and a flannel who I recognized as Leslie Shay. Next to her stood Severide, who I remembered being friends with in middle school. Watching them walk away I thought about what it would be like sitting next to her all year, and wondered if she would prove as interesting as she came off as.

* * *

><p>Gabriela went a while without talking to me. She never really spoke in class, unless Mr. Boden asked her a question. Even then she gave short and to the point answers. You could tell she was intelligent. She was always right, and sounded incredibly sure of herself when she was speaking. But she never participated, always just sitting around, eating smarties. It was kind of annoying actually, and I decided if she ever spoke to me again I'd ask her about it. We actually didn't speak at all for the first month and a half of school. I was checking my phone one day in early October when I saw a shadow appear over my desk. It was Gabriela, hands resting on my desk, wearing the shortest, tightest crop top I'd ever seen. I was a teenage boy but I didn't want to be disrespectful, so I let my head drop closing my eyes. Her boobs had been very pushed up, and right in my face, and I could feel my face flushing.<p>

"I got dress coded, I need your letterman jacket Casey." She stood up straight and I brought my head up. Her arms crossed over her chest I looked her up and down. Her black jeans fell right below her belly button, and her "shirt" right below her boobs. Her hair was natural today,slightly shorter since it was curly, and she seemed to be wearing less makeup than usual. Cursing at myself for thinking of these things because I had a girlfriend, I looked her in the eyes. "You gonna quit staring at my boobs and answer the question?"

"It wasn't really a question." The irritated look she gave me made me turn and pull my jacket from the back of my chair, handing it to her. "And I wasn't staring at your boobs."

"Whatever Casey," she said, pulling my jacket over her shoulders and sitting in her seat shoving some smarties into the large pockets. I rolled my eyes at her, and before I had a chance to say anything else Mr. Boden walked in.

As I watched her walk out of the classroom later, I realized she actually looked quite good, sauntering down the hall in my too large jacket and signature black skinny jeans with clunky docs on. Walking by her, Kelly, and Shay I heard them talking.

"Where's the jacket from Gabs?"

"Borrowed it from Casey."

Shay snorted. "You borrowed it? As in asked nicely and he gave it to you willingly?"

I looked over to watch Gabriela shove Shay slightly, Kelly watching on amused.

I finally made it to lunch, and sat down with Hallie, her friend Heather, and my friends Andy and Chris. I'd almost forgotten about Gabriela when I heard Heather say my name.

"Why is that girl wearing your jacket Matt?" I looked up to see everyone looking at Gabriela, who was sitting with Shay, legs up on the table and picking at a sandwich. She put the sandwich down and fiddled with her nose ring while Shay leaned over to say something to her. She must've mentioned that we were watching her because she looked up at us and gave a grin that I knew was fake, waving at us. They all turned to me.

"She got dress coded, and asked to borrow it."

"She could've just borrowed her friends jacket." Hallie said, looking down angrily at her salad.

"Yeah, but to be fair, Gabriela Dawson is not one to be messed with." Andy spoke up from next to me, and I looked over at him appreciatively.

"Whatever," Hallie muttered, turning to Heather to talk about their math class.

Gabriela returned my jacket to me the next day, and I found about a dozen smarties shoved into the pockets.

* * *

><p>I was waiting outside with Hallie after school for her mom to pick her up. It was a slightly warm day considering it was early November. Hallie was talking about some party we'd been invited to, and I was only half listening when I heard someone call out my last name. Both Hallie and I looked over, and I saw Gabby walking towards us. She stopped in front of us.<p>

"You got a car?" I nodded. "Alright, I need a ride. Help me out?" Despite the fact that it was phrased as a question, I was sort of worried she'd just grab my keys if I said no so I nodded.

Hearing Hallie clear her throat next to me I spoke up. "This is my girlfriend, Hallie. I'm just going to wait with her until her mom gets here."

Hallie gave her a tight smile. "That's such a nice outfit." She was wearing the usual black jeans and black docs, but had recently started wearing a large leather jacket over it. I knew the comment probably wouldn't bother her, but I grimaced at the disdain in her voice, hoping Gabriela wouldn't say anything too harsh. A few weeks ago she'd made some kid in our math class almost cry when he'd made some comment about her.

Gabriela just smiled though, tilting her head slightly almost as if she was talking to a kid. "Aw, thanks princess." I could feel Hallie tense, and thankfully her mom pulled up just then. We sort of all stood in silence for a moment, before Hallie leaned in to kiss me, long and hard. Usually I would enjoy it, but knowing she was just trying to bother Gabriela it was sort of annoying. When she pulled away I saw Gabriela roll her eyes, and we watched as she walked out to her moms car. Following me to my car, when she hopped in the front seat and the car got started, she immediately changed it to some rock station. The ride was mostly silent, her humming along to the music, giving me directions every minute or so. We pulled into a neighborhood, which wasn't necessarily the nicest part of town but definitely wasn't the worst. Before she got out of the car, she pulled some smarties out of her pocket and handed them to me.

"Gabriela-" her nose scrunched up, almost in disgust.

"Please don't call me Gabriela. That's what my parents call me."

"Gabby, then. What's with the smarties?"

Something strange happened then. She smiled at me. Like a genuine smile. Most of the time her smile were smirks or were condescending, or went along with some sarcastic comment. But she really looked amused and happy that I'd asked her that question. Without answering it, she got out of the car, saying she'd see me tomorrow before closing the door.

* * *

><p>Even though I didn't really consider Gabby a friend, someone pushing her around pissed me off. So when she was walking by me and a group of friends with Kelly and Leslie and O'Brien decided to call her a freak, I cursed internally, knowing she wouldn't just accept what he'd said and move on. O'Brien was a huge ass, and he looked to pick on people wheneve he had the chance. He still held a grudge against Gabby, likely for all the times she'd told him odd, so it wasn't surprising when he commented as she walked by. At first she just rolled her eyes and continued to walk, Leslie muttering something probably along the lines of 'just forget about it' to her, Kelly's fist tightening. But then he said something about Leslie, and I wasn't even paying much attention because I could see how pissed off she was just by her posture, and she turned around on her heel. She was wearing her heavier docs, and I was genuinely worried about O'Brien being kicked in the balls or having his foot stomped on.<p>

"Wow O'Brien, that was really clever. You have anything else to say?" Her jaw was clenched, and she was standing with her arms crossed, the majority of her weight on her right foot.

"Oh, don't worry freak. Just go along with your friends, you have no business being here anyways."

"Don't worry, we weren't planning on staying." She turned to walk away but ended up walking back up to him, with a thoughtful look on her face. "You know I'm almost positive that you were somehow conceived through anal sex, because there's no way being as huge of an asshole as you are is natural."

She walked away and some of the guys around us letting out quiet, amused 'oooh's'. O'Brien muttered something under his breath, and next thing I knew Kelly had him pushed against the lockers with his arm pushed against his throat.

"Hey. Don't you ever let me hear you say anything even remotely rude to them again, alright? Or we're going to have a problem." Leslie and Gabby were calling out to Kelly to stop, and he eventually eased off of O'Brien after he nodded. Leslie and Gabby grabbed Kelly's arms, and they walked away as everyone surrounding watched.

"They seriously need to go get hit by a bus or something." O'Brien said, rubbing at his throat. I narrowed my eyes in disbelief at him.

"Are you kidding me? You shouldn't have started shit, they weren't even looking at you."

"Oh look, Matt's standing up for the freaks. You might as well just dye your hair blue or something, buy some leather pants and start hanging out with them."

"Wow very clever. You need to chill the fuck out. You're just pissed cause Gabby knows how to stand up to you, and you automatically revert back into a toddler whenever someone knows how to insult you." Next thing I knew, he was looming over me. "Don't talk to me like that Casey." I just backed up, walking to class, figuring the bell was about to ring. I hoped I'd see Gabby, and get to apologize for the other Matt being such a dick.

* * *

><p>"Casey, skip with me." I heard from behind me in the hallway. I turned around just as I was about to walk into english to see Gabby. "I'll give you free smarties." She grinned and I rolled my eyes at her.<p>

"Why would I skip with you?"

"Because Leslie and Kelly both ditched school, and I really don't feel like listening to Wallace lecture about The Great Gatsby. C'mon." She turned and started walking down the hallway, not bothering to look back and see if I was following her. When the bell rang, I ran after her, falling into step. "I knew you'd come."

"Where exactly are we going?" The hallways were clearing out, and I knew if a teacher saw us we'd likely end up getting written up.

"You'll see."

We ended up in the wrestling room, Gabby lying on the floor with a hoodie as a pillow, both of us eating smarties.

"Sorry about that thing with O'Brien."

"Eh, it happened a week ago. I'm over it."

"Still, It was uncalled for." She was quiet for a moment before speaking up again.

"You probably thought I was a freak too, when you first saw me. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just annoying."

"I didn't think you were a freak." She raised her eyebrow at me. "Maybe a little different, but not a freak."

"Well why different. Seriously think about it, and answer."

I thought for a moment. "I guess because of the way you dress. All the piercings, the tattoos."

"Why do you think I dress like this?"

"Because you want to."

"Exactly. You dress the way you do because you want to. That doesn't mean you need to fit some sort of trope, or that I should label you. You know, I never thought you were some asshole jock. Even though you walk around wearing that letterman jacket and your football jersey. Judging people on appearance is just something we need to teach ourselves to grow out of, you know?"

"I guess that makes sense. Although…"

"What?" She asked, turning her head to look at me.

"The smarties thing is a little weird."

She smiled, turning her head back to stare at the ceiling. "That it is, Casey."


	6. Chapter 6

**People were saying I should've continued the last one, and so here it is. It doesn't pick up from where that one shot left off, but instead is in the future. Let's level for a second here, I like the idea of punk Gabby way too much. Gabby is my favorite character in the show and it's just fun to imagine. So here it is! I'll have another chapter up, of a different AU, hopefully tomorrow. Sorry if this is a little choppy. Let me know what you think, and thank you for the reviews and for reading :)**

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><p>It seemed that Gabby would just completely disappear for a while and then all of a sudden pop back up in it. They'd become friends in high school. She'd help him Matt study, because despite her acting like she didn't give a shit she was incredibly smart. They'd walk around when his parents fighting got bad, her feeding him smarties, listening to him rant and then giving blunt explanations for the things bothering him. She'd taught him a new, less judgemental way of looking at things. When he and Hallie had broken up, she'd been there for him. She started going to his football games, endured all the cheerleaders talking about 'Matt Casey's freak girlfriend'. And sure sometimes his arm would bruise from her punching him jokingly (he never had the heart to ask her to stop knowing it was a sort of sign of endearment for her), but they'd had a great thing. They never actually dated, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it, or never was attracted to her. Either way, straight after graduation she was off to NYU with Leslie following, telling her she might write him sometime.<p>

Severide and him ended up at the same firehouse. Leslie and Gabby had gone off to New York and were now god knows where. Matt had asked a copious amount of times whether Severide knew where Gabby and Leslie had gone off to, but as far as Severide knew they were living together somewhere, Leslie a tattoo artist and Gabby working as a bartender. He really wasn't even sure if they were in the country, so he definitely didn't know if they were in Chicago.

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><p>They were in Chicago as it turned out. They responded to a fire in a bar which looked like arson. As it turned out there were only 3 people in the building, the owner, his wife, and one employee. Matt thought the girl looked familiar, and when Chief went to go talk to them with Severide, he went along. He realized who it was as he was walking towards her. She looked more mature, slightly taller, but he could tell it was her. Her stance and her cold stare that was intimidating but he was so used to it didn't even bother him anymore. How she itched her eyebrow piercing because she was nervous, and bit her lip, fiddling with the ring on her bottom lip he'd gone with her to get. She still had the nose and ear piercings, the tattoos and the sidecut. She looked older, and more tired but gorgeous nonetheless. She was quietly comforting the owners wife when she saw them coming, and she smiled when she saw him and realized who it was. It was the same smile she gave him when he'd make fun of her weird smartie thing, or when he'd take her to the diner, or when she watched him at one of his games despite how much she hated football. She said something to the owners wife and started walking towards them. He tried to ignore the excitement he was feeling, trying to not grin too wide because she'd make fun of him for it.<p>

"Casey. And Kelly. Right before my own eyes." Severide wrapped his arms around her tightly, and she hugged him back. They exchanged a greeting quietly before she turned to Matt, giving him a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her, he could smell her hair, she was still using the same shampoo from before. When she pulled back he looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Haven't seen you two in a while." She turned to address Chief, nodding at him. "I'm Gabby. I uh, work here. We were doing renovations in the employee area, and we all stepped to the front. That's when the fire must've started, cause next thing you knew it smelt like smoke and David was rushing us out of there." Chief nodded at her, saying he'd keep that in mind. "When you talk to David, you might want to pull him aside." They all started walking. "His wife's pretty shaken up about it, I don't think she'll want to be too involved unless she has to."

Everyone went about their business, and before they left Gabby promised Severide she'd have Shay give him a call, and promised Matt that she'd get his number from Severide.

When they got back to the station people started asking Matt and Kelly questions.

"That was Gabby, we were friends throughout high school. Casey over there had a huge crush on her." Matt threw popcorn at him, shooting him a glare.

"So that explains all of your tattoos. You were one of those punk people."

Kelly pulls a face at that term. "I don't know if that's how I'd address it, but. What, do I not seem punk now?" He says, shooting a glance at Otis which dares him to challenge what he's saying.

"Severide was intimidating in high school. But Gabby was even more intimidating." Matt speaks up finally on the matter. "She didn't take shit, I doubt she does now too."

"That doesn't surprise me." Herrmann speaks up. "That look on her face-" he trails off, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah but Gabs is the best. You just gotta get to know her." Severide says quietly before grabbing his phone and leaving the room, likely to call Leslie and yell at her for not telling him they'd been back in Chicago for so long. Gabby had told them two years now. Two years his best friends had been back, without even knowing. Matt wasn't mad, because they had no responsibility to tell him what they were doing. But Severide had been close with them for years, and despite the fact that he and Leslie had had some sort of falling out, he understood why he'd be mad he didn't know. Matt eventually decided to get up and follow when he heard Severide yelling about 'two god damn years Shay', figuring he should calm him down. He also wanted to get Gabby's number.

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><p>Despite how was awkward asking Gabby out on a date and the glare she gave him when he did so, Matt's glad he did it. Because since they began dating, he honestly couldn't remember a time that he'd been happier. He almost wished he'd sucked it up and asked her out in high school, then maybe she wouldn't have left and he'd have had this longer. Either way he was glad things happened the way they did. After about two dates which Gabby wasn't even very enthusiastic about going on (insisting dates were not her style), she'd finally told him if he wanted them to be a thing he should just ask her.<p>

She had changed. Not too much, but enough that it was different to be around her. She was more open. She talked to him about her family, things she never even mentioned when they were in high school and things she shrugged off if he'd bring them up. Even as friends she was weird about Matt touching her, but now she'd be the one to come up and wrap her arm around him or lean into him when she was over at his house. She smiled more. He figured her family predicament that he hadn't known about until now put a strain on her, because she was always such a curmudgeon before. And despite the fact that she still had this tough don't-even-consider-messing-with-me air to her, and would scowl at things that most normal people found adorable, she was happier. Matt only hoped that he was part of the reason for her happiness. Gabby was practically living with Matt 4 months after they'd seen each other again. Because she wanted to be around him more, but also because she really didn't like Leslie's new girlfriend.

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><p>Despite the fact things were going well, they definitely weren't perfect. Neither of them liked trouble when it wasn't worth it. But they did argue every once in a while. Matt wasn't over protective, but when they were walking home and some guy tried to grab Gabby, he'd flipped. This of course led Gabby to flip at Matt, which he didn't understand. She'd walked slightly ahead of him grumbling about him being too damn overprotective and he didn't say anything, knowing she would start yelling at him. She stormed into his house, kicking off her shoes, and going to the kitchen grabbing a beer. Sighing he kicked his shoes off and walked into the kitchen, leaning across from her at the island. She looked up at him, her jaw clenched, and eyes stoney. Matt remembered why he had been sort of scared of her in high school, and almost apologized. Then he remembered how mad he'd been when that guy had grabbed his girlfriend, and decided not to apologize.<p>

"He practically groped you Gabby, what did you want me to do?"

"I wanted you to let me handle it." She'd already started speaking before he'd finished his sentence. "God Matt you're not my knight in shining armor okay?"

They went about arguing for about 5 more minutes before they were full on screaming at each other.

"HE TOUCHED YOU, GABBY!"

"I DON'T CARE, MATT. I CAN HANDLE MYSELF." She set the beer bottle down. "I'M NOT SOME HELPLESS FIVE YEAR OLD. YOU KNOW I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CAUSE A SCENE?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE MY GIRLFRIEND, AND HE SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT."

"Oh because I'm your girlfriend is why? As if-"

"God Gabby you know that's not what I mean why do you have to-"

"Yeah well that's what it sounded like." She lowered her voice and Matt brought his hands up to his face, rubbing his eyes. He was exhausted, and he really didn't want to deal with Gabby being pissed off for the rest of the night. "You don't have to protect me."

"But I want to."

"And I want to protect myself."

Matt really just wanted to punch the wall, because god he loved her but she was so damn frustrating sometimes. They stood there for a moment before she just looked at him, rolling her eyes and walked off to the bedroom. Finishing her beer, he threw it out and went over to the bedroom to find her laying in bed in a sports bra and his sweatpants. She was lying on her stomach, facing the wall. He knew she was trying to avoid talking to him, so he just got ready for bed, brushing his teeth and stripping down to his boxers. When he lied down he saw her shift away from him slightly, but regardless dragged her over to him. She rolled over to face him, bringing her hands up to his chest and rubbing her thumb against his collarbone with a straight look on her face. He took a moment to fiddle with all of her piercings, looking at all her features. It reminded him of the time senior year some guy was bothering her and he stood up for her. She didn't speak to him for a week, and he didn't want a repeat of that, especially when she was basically living at his place. Eventually he spoke up. "I'm sorry for just jumping in straight away." She raised her eyebrows. "Not sorry for standing up for you though. But I know you can handle yourself. I just- I just love you, and watching that happen made me mad."

She raised her eyebrows at him and he felt like he was blushing under her gaze. "You love me, huh?" He nods, and she just leans in, kissing him deeply. He realizes he likes the feeling of the cold metal of her lip ring between his lips, and he want every night at home to be like this. Them lying together, even if she'd slightly mad at him. After about five minutes of making up Matt speaks up.

"You're not going to say you love me back?" Gabby shakes her head and he leans in to kiss the smirk off of his face. He doesn't bother trying to get her to say it, because he knows she loves him and him badgering her would make her hold off on saying it for even longer.

* * *

><p>She does tell him she loves him though when he gets injured in a fire two months later. Gabby sits around in the waiting room in her all black and old docs from high school that still fit her, tapping her foot impatiently and messing with her lip ring. Kelly sits by her, rubbing her back assuring her it'll be fine. Her straight face keep her from looking too upset, but tears are brimming at her eyes and every once in a while she brings up her sweater sleeve to wipe at her eyes. All of the guys watch, curious as to what her and Casey are like.<p>

Eventually the doctor comes out, and Gabby automatically gets up, insisting she's the one going in. She sits patiently at his bed, waiting for him to wake up. When he finally opens his eyes, after he drinks some water she kisses him softly."Don't ever do that to me again Casey."

He brought a hand up to her face, and then moved it back, rubbing her sidecut and pushing the hair that had fallen forward behind her ear. "I'm not planning on it."

"Good. I love you."

* * *

><p>Matt gets home from shift to see Gabby sprawled out across his bed in a bralette and his boxers. He face is squished up against her palm, and she looks so adorable he has to grab his phone and take a picture. She worked last night and it was a Friday, so she was probably there until around 5. He sits in the kitchen reading the book she got him as an early Christmas present until he hears her stirring around in their room. Getting up he starts to scramble some eggs. Only a few moments later she walks into the kitchen, bags under her eyes and hair all messy. She leans against the counter while he's scrambling the eggs and he glances at her every few seconds, and god he feels so in love with her. When the stove is off she walks over to her and wraps her arms around his waist, pressing kisses on his neck and collarbone. He knows she'd nervous about really meeting all of his friends later, but doesn't say anything because he knows she'd deny it. They go about their business throughout the day and both take a nap before Gabby shoves Matt into the guest bedroom so she can get ready for the firefighters gala. Matt wasn't really sure whether she'd say yes or not. She wasn't one to get dressed up and make a huge effort to look nice, but she didn't gag at the idea so he figured that meant she sort of liked it. When she comes out of their bedroom, she looks gorgeous in a long black gown and black heels, which was no surprise. He stoic stare and the tattoos on her arms and shoulder make her look as badass as ever, but she'd taken out all of her piercings, except for the stud on her nose. Her hair was parted so her sidecut wasn't visible, and she looked different. Gorgeous, but different. Not the same Gabby who'd walked into English class their junior year, the one who was really pushy and had a weird smarties addiction. He must've looked pretty shocked because she lets out a nervous laugh. "Do you not like it?"<p>

"No I love it. You look amazing, as always."

The night went well. Gabby kept up conversation with all of his friends, but mostly talked to Severide and him. He even convinced her to dance with him. They were lying in bed that night, Gabby with her face cleaned of all her makeup and piercings when Matt spoke up.

"I miss your lip ring." She looked over at him momentarily and then turned away.

"Oh yeah? It doesn't get in the way when you're trying to seduce me?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "No, I like it. Why'd you take everything out?"

She sighed, wrapping her arm tighter around him. "Dunno. Didn't want to make a bad impression on all your friends. Figured it'd be a change."

"Alright." He goes back to just stroking her arm, taking comfort in the weight of her arm across his chest. He thinks about when she told him she'd sure as hell never change for anyone but herself, wondering if the reason she'd gotten rid of all the things that he thought made her unique and he loved about her appearance was to impress his friends. "Well you don't need to change for anyone. Especially not me."

"Don't worry dummy," she pinched his side and smiled at him affectionately. "I know that."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry I suck at updating Trials and Tribulations. I have a ton of art projects I need to get done over break, and these one shots are a lot quicker to write. I hope everyone had a good holidays though. Thank you for reviewing and reading! I hope you like this one and let me know what you think.**

"**You're just lucky we're a close match, I happen to have two kidneys and was in close proximity. Although..."**

* * *

><p>When Matt came to the first thing he noticed was the beeping. He opened his eyes slightly, and everything was blurry. His body felt heavy with sleep, and his abdomen ached. Eventually he was able to pull his eyes open and everything came into focus. He stared at the white ceiling for a moment, remembering being prepped for surgery before being sedated. Sighing he sat up slowly, still feeling sore, and reached over for the cup of water on the bedside table. He heard the door open and looked over. A nurse with short blonde hair and a huge smile on her face walked in.<p>

"You're up!" He simply nodded in response, not really in the mood for talking. "Is there anything I can get you? Your doctor will be in to check on you later."

He shook his head, watching as she checked all of the IV bags. "No, I'm good thanks." She checked his vitals and was about to leave when he thought of something. "Is the person who donated her kidney to me here?"

She looked through the papers on the clipboard she was holding. "Yeah. Gabriela Dawson."

"Is there any way I could meet her? To thank her." The nurse looked unsure so he gave her a smile that was hopefully sincere enough to convince her. "Please?" Normally Matt didn't attempt to flirt to get what he wanted, but he truly did want to thank this woman. Also because he'd probably be stuck in this room for a while, and it's be nice to get out.

"How about I go talk to her, and see if I can bring her to you. You really shouldn't be up ." He nodded, figuring half of what he wanted was plenty and laid back, staring at the ceiling thinking.  
>Considering his job, Matt figured if he ever ended up needing an organ transplant, it would be from a ceiling caving in on him or something. An infection just seemed weird to him. He was lucky he was on shift though and there was someone there when he'd collapsed after insisting he was fine to work when he really wasn't. If he'd been at home he wasn't sure what would've happened, Hallie had stopped checking in on him a while ago and it wasn't as if he was close with any of his neighbors.<p>

"Hey." He heard a quiet voice come from the door and looked over. A pretty young woman with tan skin in a hospital gown and a large sweater was being wheeled towards him. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and despite her eyes looking tired they still were friendly and welcoming. The same nurse from before pushed her wheelchair next to the bed, and the woman turned around, thanking her. The nurse left, and Matt was left with this girl. She was slouched back in the chair, arms crossed over her lap, smiling softly at Matt, taking in all of his features. "So you're Matthew Casey huh."

"The one and only." He smiled at her and she shook her head at him amused.

"What exactly did you do to need a new kidney?"

"Infection. I really wanted to thank you, by the way-"

"No need." She sat up straighter and leaned forward, stretching her back slightly. The look on her face was endearing, and he was glad he'd asked if she could come. Hospital rooms tend to feel cold and empty, and he felt like she brought a warmth that made him feel better. "You're just lucky we're a close match, I happen to have two kidneys and was in close proximity. Although kidneys are often transplanted with no antigen match and don't reject so. Really not that lucky. But I appreciate you being thankful." The smile she gave to him made him laugh.

"Alright." She nodded in response. "Well, now that I have your kidney inside me you could tell me a little bit about yourself."

She shrugged, keeping a blank look on her face. "I mean I guess if you think it's really necessary." By the end of the sentence she was smiling though, and he shook his head at her. She got up from the wheelchair and went to sit on the edge of his bed, facing him with her hand stretched over to the other side of the bed over his legs to prop herself up. "How about for every question you ask me you have to answer the same question."

"Sounds like a deal. What's your name?"

"Gabriela Dawson. I know your name. It's Matthew Casey."

"Where do you work?"

"Here. I'm a nurse."

"I'm a firefighter."

"Interesting. You know it's pretty funny, that you're a firefighter and what almost brought you down was a kidney infection."

"Oh please, I wasn't brought down."

She smiled at him haughtily. "Whatever you say…" she said in a sing songy voice.

"Where were you born?"

"Here, in Chicago."

"Me too. What's your favorite color?"

"Purple. Let me guess, yours is blue. Or some shade of green." He didn't respond and she sat up with a grin. "I'm totally right!"

"Not going to give you the satisfaction of knowing."

"So, yes. Let me think of an interesting one." She got quiet for a moment, Matt paying attention to how she bit her lip and how calm her faced looked when she was in thought. The sight made him smile, it was something he could get used to. "Okay, what's your favorite childhood memory."

Matt then also took a moment to think. "When I was younger, on my birthdays my mom would take me to the candy store and let me get as much candy as I want. I remember one time I got almost 4 pounds of candy. She still bought it for me, and didn't make me share with my sister."

They got lost in conversation and next thing Matt knew it was visiting hours, and Severide, Herrmann and Chief were all knocking on the door. When they heard the knock Gabby turned around, eyebrows raised at them, feeling intrusive as they walked in to talk to Matt

"Hey man. Oh. Sorry, I didn't know you had company." Severide said. She smiled at the three men and turned back to Matt.

"I'm going to go, let you talk to your friends." She slid off of the bed and he grabbed her hand.

"You don't have to go."

"It's fine. Hey look, I'll go to the cafeteria and get some cake tomorrow and see if I can stop by. We can talk some more." He nodded, and she released his hand, walking out of the room pushing the wheelchair.

"You know you should really use that!" He called out just as she got to the door.

"Yeah, we'll see if any of the nurses fight me on that." He chuckled at her, and was left with the three men who he'd forgotten had even come in.

"Who was that Casey?" Severide asked, going to sit in the chair at his bedside grinning.

He just shook his head. "Just someone I met." With the looks he got he decided to change the subject. "So, when will I be back at work?"

* * *

><p>Gabby came back the next day, cake from the cafeteria in tow. She was instead dressed in yoga pants and a gray hoodie, hair still up in a messy bun. They both ate their cake, Gabby finishing hers at an alarming rate.<p>

"So, when're you getting out of this joint?"

"Two days from now. I had an infection and apparently my temperature was still a little high, so. You?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Matt groaned. "That's not fair. I'm ready to be out of this hospital bed and back at work."

She smiled, poking him in the side. "You had an infection and an organ transplant, I hope you don't expect to be fighting fires hours after, cause it's not gonna happen."

"I know, I just hate sitting around. It gets boring. And I've been walking around, but there's not much to do in a hospital."

"You don't have anyone visiting you?" She leans over in her chair resting her arm on his bed, her head lying on the crook.

"No. My dad's dead. My mom isn't really around, and my sister and I aren't on good terms."

"Wow. You sound like you've got an interesting family history."

He let out a dry laugh and she got a concerned look on her face. "You could say that."

"So was the cake good, or was the cake good?" He smiled, thankful she'd known not to push him to talk about it.

"Oh it was great."

"You know I actually don't mind cafeteria food. It's not horrible, plus it saves me the time of making a meal."

"At the house our candidate cooks."

"So you just get to sit back and enjoy? That sounds nice."

"I like to cook sometimes. Not at the house as much, but at home."

"I'm more of a baker myself. But I make amazing mac and cheese."

"How old are you, ten?"

She pouted at him and he laughed.

The next morning, he'd gone to her room that the kind nurse had given him the number to to see she'd left. He was somewhat hurt that she'd left without saying goodbye, but then again she had no obligation to check up on him.

* * *

><p>He still had two days before he could be back on shift. He'd been running through his conversations with Gabby in his head, thinking maybe if he'd explicitly shown interest in her she wouldn't have left without saying goodbye or giving him her phone number. He hated being out of work. Although it gave him time to catch up on all the cleaning and chores he had neglected for a while, it made his life feel boring. He was not sitting here watching old episodes of Grey's Anatomy, which only reminded him of Gabby. Groaning, he decided to leave the house and go get some food. Stopping at some healthy place downtown he got a sandwich to go. As he was walking back to his car he spotted a candy store, and got an idea.<p>

Taking his chance, he went to the hospital, no going in through the main entrance and sneaking past employees in hopes she'd be working and he could catch her. Unfortunately, when he got to the third floor he saw a face that recognized him, and didn't let him slide by without questioning.

"Matt?"

At the sound of Hallie's voice he cringed internally. They hadn't spoken much since they'd broken up, and to be honest he'd been somewhat bitter until a while back. Turning around he put a smile on his face. "Hey Hallie."

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for someone."

She looked worried, and crossed her arms asking "was there an accident with one of the guys?"

"Oh no, no. Um, I was looking for a nurse actually, Gabby."

"Uh, last name maybe?"

"Gabby Dawson. Her full name may be Gabriela, but uh…" he trailed off awkwardly. The look on her face almost made Matt wish he hadn't come at all, but she walked over to the main desk on the floor and started speaking quietly to one of the nurses there. Matt waited, fiddling with his hands awkwardly, hoping Hallie wouldn't ask why he was here to see Gabby. She came back over.

"She's headed this way."

His eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh. Uh, thanks Hallie."

"Did you really think I'd be bitter enough to not get your girlfriend for you when you've probably just snuck through this entire place. It's not like you have a visitors pass on you." The smile on her face told him she wasn't mad or upset, and Matt almost sighed in relief.

"She's not my girlfriend, but thanks Hallie." She walked away and Matt was left standing there awkwardly. Thankfully Gabby showed up less than a minute later. He watched her go talk to another nurse who pointed over to him. She didn't look ecstatic, maybe a little confused, but she wasn't upset to see him either so he figured that was a good thing.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Listen, if you're here to thank me about the kidney thing it's fine. It's yours now."

He grinned and shook his head. "No, I was just bringing you this." He handed her the bag of candy and her smile was worth the impromptu, slightly awkward hospital trip.

"Thanks, Matt. I can't wait to eat these."

"Yeah, no problem. Listen, I was wondering if I could get your number." She opened her mouth to speak and he spoke up quickly. "It's just that I really had fun talking to you, and I didn't get to say goodbye to you before you left." He ignored the look of guilt on her face when he said that and continued. "I'd love to see you again."

"Yeah, I felt bad. Just leaving." She held out your phone. "I'll put in my number." After typing in her number and handing the phone back to him she gave him an apologetic smile. "I've gotta get back to work. But thank you. Thank you very much. And we'll talk later"

"You're welcome." He watched as she walked away, and felt satisfied when she opened the bag of candy and ate a gummy shark.


End file.
